365 stories of personal giving

Day 92 – Carlos C.

There were two beautiful stories on the Year of Giving today. One by Rebecca Sheir of NPR and the other by Susan Kinzie of the Washington Post. Please check out their respective links…they are amazing! Their terrific reporting has driven more people to the Year of Giving website today than all the other days combined! 20,000+ hits

I have been inundated with emails, comments, requests to follow me on twitter and requests to be a fan of the Facebook Page. People have written to me telling me that the Year of Giving project brought them to tears! I am speechless and so appreciative of the support that I have received from so many of you!

I shot a little video of me tonight. Keep in mind that in the last 48 hours I have driven over 500 miles, attended my cousin’s funeral, slept in two different Comfort Inns, and tried to respond to over 350 messages and comments that I have received. If I seem a little out of it…it’s the lack of sleep 😉

Earlier this week I met Carlos at the Eastern Market. Carlos is the person I gave money to on one of the days that Susan Kinzie tagged along with me. He has been working at the family run butcher shop for 18 years…since he was 10! He used to cook samples for hungry patrons when he was a kid.

Carlos at Canales Quality Meats, Eastern Market (Photo: Reed)

Carlos is very knowledgeable about the meats that they have…showing me the pork from Pennsylvania and Virginia and the beef from various parts of the US and Canada. “You want to look for good marbling in the meat…like little ‘lightening bolts’” he tells me. Filet mignon is his favorite!

Rather than me write more about Carlos…go read Susan’s wonderful article! It’s apparently the most read article from Friday’s edition! Amazing.

By the way…I got an email from Carlos today telling me that he gave his $10 to his wife, Gale. “She just found out that she will most likely be laid off this July 3rd because of Montgomery County budget cut backs. It made her feel nice. Thank you.”

Carlos with his father, Emilio (Photo: Reed)

Go say hello to Carlos and his father Emilio at Canales Quality Meats at Eastern Market!

Congratulations Reed on the responses you’ve received! I’m really sorry to hear the loss of your cousin (and the craziness you went through in the last 48 hrs). Hope you’ll try to get some rest this weekend!

Thanks Henry…I went to the site and read the article (using Google Translator). Looks like they wrote a very nice article. I just noticed that they listed the website incorrectly 😉 It should be https://yearofgiving.wordpress.com (the forgot the period between yearofgiving and wordpress) or more simply http://www.yearofgiving.org. Thank you so much for saying hello from Indonesia…maybe I should visit Indonesia and see how people in your country react to my giving? 🙂

You blow my mind! May God bless you and hold you in His loving hand, while you continue to honor Him. You truly have found your mission on this earth my friend! The people you touch, will have a ripple effect long after you are gone.
What you are doing is humbling.

Hello…I loved the Washington Post article where I learned about you. I wrote to Ellen DeGeneres and told her you would be a great guest for her (I hope she contacts you!). What you are doing is beautiful. I have a giving practice of giving away something every day (not always money/not always a thing), and it has affected me dramatically (at the end of the day now I always feel accomplished because I have given something). Maybe our purpose in life is to give what we have. I have a friend who doesn’t ask his little girls what they want to be when they grow up–he asks them “what do you want to give when you grow up?”
Giving every day…it is harder than it sounds.
Thank you for your beautiful story and your beautiful practice. You are a light in our Washington, D.C., area.
Diana

Diana, thanks for your interest. I am so happy that you actively practice giving in your life as well. It is extremely rewarding. Thanks also for your thoughtful letter to Ellen…who knows, maybe she will find it interesting…I mean her last name sounds pretty close to “generous”!

Greetings from Detroit! FYI, I just read an article about your Year of Giving in yesterday’s The Chronicle of Philanthropy (online daily update). I too am a non-profit professional in transition (unemployed). I intend to share your story and the pay the inspiration and giving forward. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us and reminding us to be kind and self-less. No need to reply, get some rest!

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I gave $10 every day for a year. Would you make a $10 donation (that's less than 3 cents a day!) today to help those in need that I have met through the Year of Giving. You will get updates on how your donation is used.